Rebuilding New Orleans

Looking to the future we should consider how to rebuild New Orleans. Some question the wisdom of rebuilding, but permanently relocating 1.4 million people and abandoning a nearly 300 year old city is unlikely. Especially since it is so historically important. Not to mention it IS party town USA. So we might as well start considering how to build a better safer New Orleans since we are going to be starting from close to scratch.

1. What historic things don't we want to keep. Like the Canals, are the canals still useful and are they a good idea in a city with flooding problems?  Also widen narrow roads.

2. Replace flood prone buildings with green space. The lowest lying areas should be reserved for parks, ball fields and green space. New Orleans should have areas for flood waters to go which will not put people or property at risk. Also consider not rebuilding directly next to old levies, a block of green space could reduce property damage considerably.

3. Raise the level of the city. Use rubble as fill and build on top. Large building in low areas should be build with a several floors of parking before the enclosed space starts.

4. All new levies should be rated for a category 5 hurricane.

5. Keep irreplaceable items or non duplicate services out of New Orleans. This is not the place for priceless historic treasures or corporate  headquarters.  Rebuild New Orleans to save as much history as survived and as a tourist destination but this not the place for critical national infrastructure.

6. Rebuild Roads and Bridges for evacuation not normal traffic levels.

7. Also it may be wise to avoid housing the long term disabled in New Orleans. These people are the hardest to evacuate. There is one report of 80 people dead at a nursing home. These people probably make up the majority of the dead. Only people with long term ties with New Orleans or family willing to evacuate them should be housed in long term care facilities in the city.

Navigation aids (from KC)

For those new to blogs, here are shortcuts to information about our collaborative maps project:

First of all, my Katrina archive contains all blog posts related to Katrina. The archive page is updated each time I make a new Katrina post, so it would be the best place to bookmark.  On the other hand, it contains many images, so on a dial-up connection it would be slow to load. Also, separately, I have an online album of Katrina map images, Katrina Floods New Orleans, 2005.

As of now, my individual Katrina posts related to maps are:

1. New Orleans Levee Break(s) Before and After
2. not too far from filling in the bowl
3. NASA's First Katrina Before and After Comparison
4. Google Earth Helps Place the Flow from a New Orleans Neighborhood into the Canal in Context
5. DigitalGlobe's New Orleans Before and After Images Are Up
6. How to Find Out if Your New Orleans House Is Under Water
7. How to Find Out if Your New Orleans House Is Under Water, Part 2: We Really Need to Integrate Topo Maps and Known Water Depths into the System
8. Escape Routes for Hurricane Victims
9. Welcome, Forbes and BBC Readers
10. Associated Press & Digital Globe Make Zoomable New Orleans Satellite Map Available
    Meanwhile, New Orleans Burns
11. New Orleans: Notes from My Parents
12. Welcome, New York Times Readers
13. On Camera Food Distribution "a Completely Staged Event"
14. Can I Go Back to Get My Stuff?
15. The Medusa in the Shield
16. First Day of School

Also, my sister, Karen Cramer Shea, has been guest-blogging for me while I was away over the weekend. Her posts are:

1. Lost in Katrina
2. Rebuilding New Orleans